Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Over the last few days, I've been busy sewing a few pinnies. They'll be heading over the ocean to Debbie in Canada soon.

I made 2 like this ...

... and 2 like this:

I made them using calico and tartan which I had in my stash. I don't have enough tartan left to make any more so I'll need to go and see if the local shop has any. If not, I might try online although I'd much rather buy "in real life" as I like to see - and handle - the fabrics to make sure they're exactly what I want.

Now, whilst I was sewing this morning, I had put my rainjacket at the top of the stairs to take down and Rosie decided she wanted to make sure I didn't sneak out the door without her knowing. Silly Rosie! :oD

And yes, that is a big laminated notice which I made to make sure I switch off things before I go downstairs. Sad? Yes. But it works! :oD

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Douglas showed me this video this morning and it's a really good thing I hadn't put my mascara on before I watched it. The tears were *streaming* down my face by the time I got to the end of it. Happy tears. Enjoy!

Friday, 25 May 2012

On Monday we went on a road trip to Montrose to visit a place called "Steptoe's Yard". It had been on the telly last week as part of a programme where antiques experts buy things in antiques shops and then try to make money from them at auction. We were intrigued by the look of Steptoe's Yard so decided to go and see it for ourselves.

Talk about stuff! I don't think I've ever seen so much stuff in one place in my whole life. Let me show you what I mean.

Anyone need a garden tool or 100?

How about some garden shears? Or a plate, dish or jug from the tables behind?

How about a grass roller, wheelbarrow, golf trolley or a bike? And even more dishes on the tables in the background?

Cutlery on the table in the foreground and even more dishes on all those tables in the background.

Here's just a small sample of the lawnmowers they have.

Next we went inside one of the HUGE buildings. Camera anyone?

Or how about a picture?

Chairs?

More chairs.

The place was literally stacked to the ceiling with chairs - and couches!

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

I finally remembered to photograph the birthday presents I got from Joanna. Honestly, she is one of those rare people who just seems to be able to get the right present for people no matter who they are. I think it's an art - and one I definitely don't have! So what did she get me that was so clever?

Next she remembered that I'd pinned a recipe for baked doughnuts but I'd had no luck in finding a doughnut baking tray (plenty mini ones out there but no "normal" doughnut sized ones). So, what do you do when you can't find a doughnut tray? You get a doughnut shaped cutter.

It apparently also cuts bagels so the next time I try making my own bagels, they might actually have holes in them!

Next she got me the most beautiful necklace and matching earrings.

The necklace is really quite long and, somehow, Jo just seemed to know that it would look amazing on me. Genius, I tell you! :o)

The last thing she got me, I'd actually asked for but, due to my increasing years - :oP - I'd forgotten I'd asked for it so it was another surprise for me! Yay!

And I just have to show you the card she gave me. We'd seen the card in a shop a few weeks ago and I laughed so much at it, I was in danger of embarrassing myself ... if you know what I mean. I laughed just as hard when she gave it to me.

It might not be funny to you but I was a Maths teacher in my past life. Also, the answer is actually correct because - and here comes my Maths teacher persona - the "complimentary" in the question should have been "complementary" so, saying the angle looks "loads thinner from this side" IS a "compliment"! And now I've started laughing all over again!

Monday, 21 May 2012

On Saturday I got the quilting done on my cousin's wedding quilt. I changed my mind about the backing because I found a purple fleece blanket in the cupboard and decided to use that instead of the sheet and wadding/batting I'd looked out. See, my idea is that they'll use this quilt for picnics and building tents in the living room etc etc - it's never going to be a "look at but don't touch" type of quilt so, that's my reasoning for going with the fleece instead. The fact that it's quicker to make it this way is irrelevant - honest! :oD

So, here's the quilt going through the machine at the quilting stage:

I sewed around the centre square and then around the 3 x 3 square and then the 5 x 5 square, all the way out to the edges. You can see the quilting on the back of the fleece herer:

I've now finished the quilting and have machine-sewn the binding on around the quilt. Now it's the handsewing of the binding on to the back of the quilt. I started it this evening but I got so cosy sewing it on that I actually snoozed off on the couch! I'll do more of it tomorrow - hopefully all of it.

Next, here are some of my presents I got for my birthday. I haven't taken photos of the ones Joanna gave me yet - must try and remember to do that tomorrow.

These are more dies for my Go cutter. Isosceles triangles:

And parallelograms:

And this is a template set to make a wedding ring quilt.

I've always fancied making a wedding ring quilt but the cutting slightly scares me. The Go cutter die for the wedding ring quilt is about £80 so I knew that wasn't going to be coming my way any time soon so I "asked for" the template set instead. (The translation of "Asked for" is "I ordered it myself and then gave it to Douglas to wrap for my birthday" :oD)

Now I just have to get my cousin's quilt finished so I can play with my new dies. What fun! :o)

And lastly - thanks to all of you who left comments on my birthday post. I appreciate each and every one of them. :o)

Friday, 18 May 2012

I've had a wonderful day today. I kept saying things like "I get to eat this chocolate/cake/chinese food because it's my birthday"! I think it's probably as well we only have one birthday a year! :o)

I got loads of fab pressies from Douglas and Joanna - thanks again for those. I LOVE them all! I got money from my mum which I will, no doubt, spend unwisely! Photos of those presents will be shown later - if I remember. After all, I'm now even older than I was yesterday so I'll forget things even more quickly than before! :oD

In the meantime, here's a card Debbie made me showing photos of my favourite people - and dogs! Thanks, Debs. :o)

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

I found the wee dolly in the cake decorating bits box last weekend when I was decorating mum's birthday cake. (She wasn't lost ... I knew she was there ... I just hadn't thought about her for a long time.) She was a very popular birthday cake when the girls were wee and I thought she deserved to come out and be used again.

As there was no room for candles, I stuck some in a Mars Bar Cake for Jo to blow out. I caught them just as they blew out!

And to prove the point that being 30 means nothing about having to behave sensibly, here's a photo I took this morning at Dunfermline Abbey.

Monday, 14 May 2012

I can't believe I didn't blog last week after Wednesday. It's not like I wasn't doing anything! In fact, I was busy, busy, busy! Singing, sewing, baking etc. etc.

The first thing I did was make a collarless blouse with the left-overs from the spotty sheet I'd used to make the top in this post. Here's the blouse - usual pattern, McCall's 5359.

The reason Diana the Dummy is wearing my denim skirt is I had to add darts to the back waist to make it fit me better. It was way too loose and I could pull it down without taking the zip down - if I felt the urge to do such a thing, that is! I also shortened it by an inch as I always felt it was just a teeny bit long. It fits me so much better now. Yay! :o)

Next I got up early on Saturday morning to get my mum's birthday cake in the oven in time for it to cool down enough to be decorated. She loved it. Each candle represents 21 years! :o)

We came home with a bit as she said she wouldn't manage to eat it all. It was delish - even though I say it myself! Plain sponge, butter icing, citrus-flavoured sprinkles and lemon curd in the middle - what's not to like? :oD

Then, on Saturday afternoon, I set to and made myself a couple of new nighties. As you can see from the pattern envelope, I've had this a really long time - yes, it really does say "1980"!

This one was easy as I had the right amount of material so no messing needed with this one.

This one, on the other hand, took a wee bit of manipulating as I didn't have enough fabric to get the length I wanted. I thought it would be okay but, when I tried it one, it was halfway up my thighs. Not a good look at my age! :oP

So, I used a couple of left-over strips to add a frilly bit around the bottom hem. I'm hoping, when I put it on tonight, that more thigh is covered than showing! *blush*

The singing I talked about was the second (of three) spring concerts with the choir I sing in. (I'm sure that's really bad grammar!) Only 2 weeks until the third of three and we've got 4 new songs to learn off by heart in those 2 weeks. Yikes!!

Blether is a word we use in Scotland for someone who talks a lot.
I blether about lots of things - sewing, crochet, dress-making, patchwork/quilting, reading, baking, singing and anything else that takes my fancy. Enjoy your visit! :o)

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